Foothill College summer camp opens students up to STEM

(Photo by Jacqueline Ramseyer/Bay Area News Group/July 23, 2014)
Instructor Jennifer Mullin holds up a student's 3D model of an "Ultralisk" video game character that was created in a STEM Robotics summer class at Foothill College.

Summer camp in Silicon Valley is quite far removed from the cliches of roasting marshmallows, racing canoes and singing "Kumbaya" around the campfire. Camp around here is more along the lines of 3D printing, nanotechnology and forensics.

Foothill College just wrapped up a packed four-week STEM Summer Camp that saw the campus turn into a living laboratory for hundreds of Bay Area high school and middle school students to learn topics related to science, technology, engineering and math.

The camp saw overwhelming participation from students in the Cupertino Union and Fremont Union High school districts, with an estimated 40 percent of high school participants coming from Lynbrook, according to college officials.

The camp concluded July 24. Camp sessions were taught and facilitated by Foothill College faculty.

"STEM Summer Camp is definitely geared at getting both high schoolers and middle schoolers interested in science and engineering. We have several different sections that give them hands-on experiences with different areas of science," said Amanda Pitts, camp co-coordinator and fulltime chemistry instructor at Foothill College. "It's giving kids the chance to do hands-on activities outside their typical high school classrooms."

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The camp was free to attend and was funded through private donations. Students also received a free daily lunch.

Students were recruited from all around the region with an aim to bring in youth traditionally underrepresented in STEM fields, including girls. Each camp session lasted from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Most of the sessions skewed toward project-based learning with only a brief amount of time devoted to lecture.

"We are trying to reach kids who want to have fun with science and their hands-on experiences," said Oxana Pantchenko, STEM camp coordinator.

In Understanding Your Health, students got lessons in finding pressure points and sensory receptors on their skin. Students also worked to assemble a replica skeleton and received a visit from an EMT. The camp concluded on July 24 with the dissection of a sheep brain.

"Our goal is to teach in a way that is inclusive and not just for science people," said Hilary Benton, instructor for Understanding your Health. "We've had a really enthusiastic group. Everyone is participating and asking questions." In Green Chemistry, students learned how to make environmentally sustainable versions of common products like soap and paint.

"The focus has been on trying to develop products in such a way to prevent waste. The focus was on what is already being done and how can we make it in a more natural way," said Mary Holland, chemistry instructor.

"It's surprising how much I've learned," added Neil Balch, an 11-year-old camper from Mountain View who enrolled in both robotics and 3D printing in consecutive weeks.

The camp is in its second year and there are tentative plans already in the works for next year, which could include growing the camp and bringing in more middle school students.